The most common question we hear at Lookup Marketing: what is the right ad budget? There is no universal number, but there is a sound method. This guide walks through it with Indian SMB examples.
Start from your economics, not a round number
- Know your customer value. If an average customer is worth Rs 20,000 in profit, you can afford a much higher cost per lead than a business earning Rs 500 per sale.
- Estimate cost per click. Competitive Delhi NCR service keywords range widely, roughly Rs 20 to Rs 300 or more per click depending on industry; legal, finance and real estate sit at the high end.
- Apply a realistic conversion rate. A decent landing page converts 3 to 8 percent of clicks into leads, and sales teams typically close 10 to 30 percent of leads.
A worked example
Suppose clicks cost Rs 50, the page converts at 5 percent, and you close 20 percent of leads. One customer then needs about 100 clicks, costing Rs 5,000. If a customer brings Rs 25,000 in profit, the mathematics strongly favour spending.
Minimum viable budgets
- Local service business on Google Search: Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 per month gives enough data to optimise.
- E-commerce on Meta and Google: Rs 50,000 plus per month, because purchase optimisation needs conversion volume.
- Below roughly Rs 15,000 per month, data arrives too slowly to improve anything; we say so honestly rather than take a retainer that cannot work.
Scale on evidence
Begin at the modest end, measure cost per lead for six to eight weeks, then scale the campaigns that prove profitable. Your budget, your ad account, your data; our monthly report shows exactly where every rupee went. Call +91-8800-567676 for a budget estimate specific to your industry.
